Forget the corporate ladder — winners take risks | Molly Graham (re-release and interview)
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Success in your career looks different for everyone — but no matter your industry, you'll need to take risks. Company and community builder Molly Graham took to the TED stage two years ago to share three key skills to learn before jumping off a metaphorical cliff, outlining a path off the corporate ladder and into true professional and personal growth -- and these key skills are more relevant today than ever.
Today, Molly has returned to TED as the new host of the podcast, WorkLife. WorkLife is a show where Molly and her expert guests talk through the messy feelings we all experience at work—conversations that delve into our ambitions and failures. Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, caught up with Molly to look back at her talk and how those ideas continue to evolve in today's world. They discuss the importance of embracing the emotional side of work, how to tell the difference between good fear and bad fear, aging, why so many successful things feel messier than we think they’re supposed to, and so much more.
Listen to WorkLife with Molly Graham wherever you get your podcasts.
Molly's talk originally aired in 2024. Elise and Molly’s conversation was recorded in April 2026.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:08.7 | I'm your host, Elise Hugh. |
| 0:10.2 | There was this little voice inside me that just kept saying, I wonder. |
| 0:15.0 | I wonder if I can be capable in this completely new environment. |
| 0:20.1 | So I took a risk, and I took the job. |
| 0:23.7 | That's company and community builder Molly Graham. In 2024, she gave a popular TED talk about |
| 0:29.3 | why the best careers are built by people willing to take risks, embrace being a beginner, |
| 0:34.7 | and keep going even when things get messy. |
| 0:40.1 | Today, she's stepped into a major new role. |
| 0:45.0 | She's taking the help of the TED podcast, Work Life, at a time when the future of work feels especially uncertain. |
| 0:47.1 | We caught up with Molly earlier this month to look back at her talk and what it's like |
| 0:50.7 | to jump off this new proverbial cliff. |
| 0:53.5 | We get into the emotional side of work, |
| 0:55.9 | how to tell the difference between good fear and bad fear, |
| 0:59.3 | and what it means to reinvent yourself at midlife. |
| 1:03.2 | Not enough people talk about the emotional side of work |
| 1:06.6 | and that so many people are experiencing the emotional human reaction to change. |
| 1:12.4 | And I think that's even more true today because there's so much going on. |
| 1:16.2 | And there's just not enough people out there saying, hey, this shit is hard and it's emotional. |
| 1:21.2 | We also get into mentorship, the stories we inherit about who we're supposed to be |
| 1:25.6 | and how Molly is thinking about all of |
| 1:27.6 | this as she begins this new chapter. The talk is first and then the conversation. It's all |
... |
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